Oi pai!
So this last week was a good one. We baptized Edson and it was awesome! He is so strong! He has potential to go on a mission. He is a little shy but we will see. He was baptized and that same night he went to a church dance, and hes already going to seminary, so he is really firm. It was awesome to get another baptism in, and see someones life change. I gave a 15 talk in church in sac meeting on sunday, and it went really good. Its a lot easier giving talks now that im fluent haha. I remember my first talk when i first got in brazil. I was so nervous but now im good! THis week we also got more furniture for our house. The only thing thats left is kitchen sink, washing machine, ironing board, and a couple other things. Getting closer, but honestly i dont think i will ever live in it. Probably i will get transfered that is coming up in two weeks. I hope so. So yesterday was pretty cool. I hit my eleventh month mark and it was my Bday! Man, one more month until hump day. But for my bday it sucked during the day because we were just in the hot sun walking from apointment to apointment and they all basically fell through. When the night came our branch pres picked us up because he said he had to talk to us, so he came and picked us up and took us to his house, and they had a cake and a bunch of food and we had a little bday party. It was so nice of them, I love that family! It made my birthday great, so it was good. So here in brazil the weather is starting to heat up really nice so its good to finally feel the warmth of a full year of cold on my mission. Two winters in a row man! That sucked!!! Haha. I will finish another winter and when i come home it will be the start of yet another winter in Utah. Lucky me right? Here in brazil right now the mail system is strike so my packages and letters are taking forever. Also the banks here are on strike so that sucks too haha. Everyone is on strike! But yeah today we went to another elders house because he is celebrating his birthday too so we had cake and food and everyone sang to us. Pday flies by so fast. Only if everyday went by as fast as pday hahaha. But yeah that is whats going on pretty much. I hope they find that robber and give my scooter back! Have a good week I love ya!!!
Matt
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Sept. 21, 2011
Hola, Dad! So we never moved this week.... freak! We talked to the branch president to get a big truck to go get our stuff so he paid this guy and the mission gave him a fridge without gas, two chairs, a bed, and a little table. Dang! We called president cordon up to complain because the office elders arent doing anything to get our stuff for our house, so president cordon had all of our stuff bought, and now we just gotta get that moved in now. My pacience is running out....
Man that sucks that we got robbed! They stole my scooter those little jerks! I was thinking how vulnerable our house is the other day. Everyone here locks up way good because people break into houses all of the time here. THis week will be my bday and it will be weird. I will have to make that cake mom sent. SO we were supposed to have a baptism but it never happend because he still didnt have a testimony, so we visited him and he said he prayed and never got an answer that these things are true, so we invited him to pray right then, so we all got on our knees and he prayed. We waited in silence for 40 minutes on our knees waiting for him to get an answered. He didnt get one, but I promised him that if he would continue praying, and not give up, he would get one. The next day we visited him and he said that he prayed again that same night and got an answer, and now he is ready and excited to be baptized. His name is Edson and when we began teaching him, he had never even prayed in his life. Now he is praying every day and reading the book of mormon, and his life is changing. Its way cool seeing people like him develop faith in christ. This week the zone leaders mission leader invited us to his bday bbq for lunch and it was way good. Brazilian bbqs are the best. THis sunday was stake conference, and it was super good as well. Something funny this week is that we were doing door contacts with people and it was elder deivids turn so he clapped at this door and this way old lady slowly walked to the gate to talk to us. She was so dang old that she was mixing up her words. Elder Deivid told her that we had a message for her, bus she replied "so, are you guys gunna give me a massage?" haha but she wanted to say message. Elder deivid decided to play along and he said "well we arent proffessionals, but we can try to give you a massage if you would like" haha I started laughing so hard. The word message and massage are super close in pronounciation so it was easy for her to mess up because she is so old. Something else funny is that everyone in the zone is now calling eachother "primo" which means cousin in both spanish and portuguese. They are saying it because I started saying it. I brought the word over from the philly mission, where all the mexicans call eachother primo on the street, and all of the brazilians love it now haha. It will spread throughout the whole mission because of me. But yup, that was my week! Make sure that you lock up the house and none of my stuff will get robbed! Now mom has an excuse to be paranoid about locking up the house haha. Have a good week!
September 15, 2011
Dad,
Wow sounds like an action packed week, but a good one! Man, I was so homesick!! The most homesick probably since my mission started. I was thinking about you guys so much, and I wanted to be there so bad, but I am now over it and back to focus on the work. The night of the wedding dinner I bought regular and dessert pizza and we ate it so I wouldnt be so homesick haha. The best way to get rid of homesickness is brazilian pizza! The best is the chocolate pizza with strawberries on top! That sucks that nick cant eat strawberries anymore haha! But its sweet that they are married now and I am happy for them. He is just buzzing through life isnt he?? Thats too bad that he only had a couple days off, and now back to school. Welcome to the real life huh^?? But I did wear a plain black tie on friday and saturday. But something new this week is that Elder Andrade, the zone leader I live with, has taught me a bunch of magic card tricks that the people love here. He is super good with tricks and I went and bought me a card deck and he taught me sweet tricks that the people love to see like and family home evenings and stuff. There is this card trick I learned that the person will choose a card and then write it on a peice of paper. I then burn the paper and rub the ashes on my arm and the card appears it is way sweet the people think its crazy! I have already used it several times with the members and my investigators. I will show you guys when I get home. Some brazilian news is that one state down from me, Santa Catarina, is flooded like crazy and tons of homes are under water ha good thing Im not there! But everything is going good here, we are finally moving tomorrow! Man, after forever we finally get to move in, but I think I will only get to enjoy it for a little bit because I am thinking I will be transfered. Oh well, its all part of the mission. As for baptisms go, we will baptize on friday! His name is Edson and he is 15 years old. His mom was a reference but she is breaking the law of chastity, so we ended up teaching her son and now we will baptize him! He is way sweet. Today for pday we went to a buffet and ate a ton, then after we walked and looked at all of the shops and stuff. Good times... But yup, that has been my week pretty much. I hope you have a great week! Love ya! Matt
Wow sounds like an action packed week, but a good one! Man, I was so homesick!! The most homesick probably since my mission started. I was thinking about you guys so much, and I wanted to be there so bad, but I am now over it and back to focus on the work. The night of the wedding dinner I bought regular and dessert pizza and we ate it so I wouldnt be so homesick haha. The best way to get rid of homesickness is brazilian pizza! The best is the chocolate pizza with strawberries on top! That sucks that nick cant eat strawberries anymore haha! But its sweet that they are married now and I am happy for them. He is just buzzing through life isnt he?? Thats too bad that he only had a couple days off, and now back to school. Welcome to the real life huh^?? But I did wear a plain black tie on friday and saturday. But something new this week is that Elder Andrade, the zone leader I live with, has taught me a bunch of magic card tricks that the people love here. He is super good with tricks and I went and bought me a card deck and he taught me sweet tricks that the people love to see like and family home evenings and stuff. There is this card trick I learned that the person will choose a card and then write it on a peice of paper. I then burn the paper and rub the ashes on my arm and the card appears it is way sweet the people think its crazy! I have already used it several times with the members and my investigators. I will show you guys when I get home. Some brazilian news is that one state down from me, Santa Catarina, is flooded like crazy and tons of homes are under water ha good thing Im not there! But everything is going good here, we are finally moving tomorrow! Man, after forever we finally get to move in, but I think I will only get to enjoy it for a little bit because I am thinking I will be transfered. Oh well, its all part of the mission. As for baptisms go, we will baptize on friday! His name is Edson and he is 15 years old. His mom was a reference but she is breaking the law of chastity, so we ended up teaching her son and now we will baptize him! He is way sweet. Today for pday we went to a buffet and ate a ton, then after we walked and looked at all of the shops and stuff. Good times... But yup, that has been my week pretty much. I hope you have a great week! Love ya! Matt
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Sept. 7, 2011
E ai Pai!
Well there isnt too much to comment on this week ha this week just seemed normal. It has been raining a ton which makes walking missionary work a nightmare. No one is on the street to do a contact and my feet get wet and its super cold with wind blowing rain on you so the umbrella doesnt help that much. You just get soaked ha it is miserable. But summer is coming and it is starting to heat up! We had a really hot day the other day and the sun was so hot! It just feels like it is eating your skin and then the humidity just gets to you as well. Im in for a treat this summer haha.. But the weather here changes so quickly. You can have four different seasons in one day. Its crazy. But this week we found a bunch of people to teach. We found some really cool investigators and then not so firm investigatores. I dont know if you have ever heard the missionary term - Molies- but molies are investigators that are just super lazy and not firm at all. They can let you in your house but they will never change and they just want to hear the word of god haha. I hate molies! There are so many of them in Brazil. You can have 20 investigators, and most of the time 17 of them are Moly. So I have been thinking a ton about home and the wedding this week. I want to be there so bad! It will be awesome for nick to be married, I am way happy for him. Its weird to think that soon I will have to be thinking about marriage. One of the members in our branch will be cooking me a special lunch on friday so that I wont be so trunky. She let me pick out what we are going to eat so I chose french fries, Torta de frango (literally chicken pie, but its different than it sounds), fresh squeezed fruit juice, and passion fruit mousse. It will be so good! We still are living in Sao jose, but according to the mission office we should be moved in soon, but haha they have been saying that for a long time! I will believe it when I see it! But yeah, that has pretty much been our week. My bday is coming up soon, 20 years old! Weird eh? Not much going on other than working a lot! Baptism next week! Two of them to be exact! We will try to marry a bunch of our investigators because they just are lazy and live together here ha so we will see. But yeah, have a good week and good luck with the wedding! I love ya!
August 31, 2011
Boa Tarde!
So Im staying in Sao marcos for another transfer. Dang.... I was hoping to get out. Im suprised im staying actually. I have been in the same zone ever since I got here in April. Freak! I dont really like this area, but if the Lord wants me here I will stay! Lets see what this transfer brings... But thats funny about the cardboard cutout haha I thought Gary had forgotten about me. Is it lifesize? Man, you guys are going to flaming gorge yet again?! Thats three times this year isnt it? Fishing sounds good right about now ha. We can fish in this misson so maybe if I get lucky I will get an area where I can fish. This week pretty good. We had splits and I stayed in Sao Jose with the zone leader that we live with. I stayed with Elder Askins and It was good speaking english the whole time. Man, my english has gone down a lot haha it sucks! I have to think about it now and I get mixed up a lot. But this last sunday Rosi and Sandy finally got baptised! Whew.... We worked so hard with them. It was so sweet to finally see them baptised. Rosi picked me to baptize her. This week I decided to break out some of the pancake mix that mom sent me and make some good ol flapjacks. I made some with chocolate chips and then put peanut butter on top with syrup. The brazilian elders thought it was the most delicious thing ever haha they dont have any of that stuff here. They loved it. It was good to eat that stuff again. So winter is finally ending and it is getting hot. The other day it was super hot during the day and night. It will just get hotter from here. Finally! Heat! So Elder Askins got transfered so yesterday we went to Mcdonalds for our last meal together. So my first Mcdonalds experience was weird here in Brazil. I walked in and thought I got teleported to the United States haha It was all the same look. The only thing it that is was freaking expensive! My Big Mac Meal was over 20 reis!! Thats like 15 dollars. In the USA, Mcdonalds is for people that dont have that much money to eat. In Brazil, the rich people eat at Mcdonalds ha... It was weird. Well, that pretty much sums up my week. Just working hard and trying to baptize more!! I hope you have a good week!
Love, Matt
So Im staying in Sao marcos for another transfer. Dang.... I was hoping to get out. Im suprised im staying actually. I have been in the same zone ever since I got here in April. Freak! I dont really like this area, but if the Lord wants me here I will stay! Lets see what this transfer brings... But thats funny about the cardboard cutout haha I thought Gary had forgotten about me. Is it lifesize? Man, you guys are going to flaming gorge yet again?! Thats three times this year isnt it? Fishing sounds good right about now ha. We can fish in this misson so maybe if I get lucky I will get an area where I can fish. This week pretty good. We had splits and I stayed in Sao Jose with the zone leader that we live with. I stayed with Elder Askins and It was good speaking english the whole time. Man, my english has gone down a lot haha it sucks! I have to think about it now and I get mixed up a lot. But this last sunday Rosi and Sandy finally got baptised! Whew.... We worked so hard with them. It was so sweet to finally see them baptised. Rosi picked me to baptize her. This week I decided to break out some of the pancake mix that mom sent me and make some good ol flapjacks. I made some with chocolate chips and then put peanut butter on top with syrup. The brazilian elders thought it was the most delicious thing ever haha they dont have any of that stuff here. They loved it. It was good to eat that stuff again. So winter is finally ending and it is getting hot. The other day it was super hot during the day and night. It will just get hotter from here. Finally! Heat! So Elder Askins got transfered so yesterday we went to Mcdonalds for our last meal together. So my first Mcdonalds experience was weird here in Brazil. I walked in and thought I got teleported to the United States haha It was all the same look. The only thing it that is was freaking expensive! My Big Mac Meal was over 20 reis!! Thats like 15 dollars. In the USA, Mcdonalds is for people that dont have that much money to eat. In Brazil, the rich people eat at Mcdonalds ha... It was weird. Well, that pretty much sums up my week. Just working hard and trying to baptize more!! I hope you have a good week!
Love, Matt
August 24, 2011
Hey dad,
Another week in the books indeed! So this week was alright. We had zone conference which was super good and I learned a lot. But saturday came along and we were super excited to baptize Rosi. We went to her house and she was lying in bed crying and really depressed. The room smelled like alcohol so I asked her if she had drank and she said yes. She also had smoked. Her friends had passed by earlier that day and persuaded her to go to the bar, because she was so depressed (she has depression) and she caved into temptation and went and drank. I was so mad, frustrated, and sad. It was really dissapointing. We had a good talk with her, and encouraged her to repent, and never do it again. She accepted and I think she has truely repented. We re marked the baptism for saturday, but she will need special permission from Pres. Cordon to be baptised because she drank and smoked. Its crazy how satan can stop everything from happening. He knows she is trying to be baptised, and that is why he is working so hard with her. I know that we will win this battle. The branch is helping with her a lot and visiting her to stay focused. It will be a good feeling when she is baptised. I hope all goes well this saturday because I want to be there to baptise her. I might be transfered on wednesday so wI hope all goes well. I think I will be transfered, but who knows what will happen. Transferes really are crazy! I want to leave this area. It is dangerous, the branch hardly does anything to help us, and I am so sick of paying a bus pass every single day to go to our area. I want to leave ha but if I stay it is what the lord wants and I will happily stay. The weather this week has been really weird. The weather here is super strange, I have never seen anything like it. One minute it will be hot and sunny, and the next will be freezing and pouring rain. This week was really cold with rain, and miserable to work in! I think it was the last cold front before it starts to warm up here, and Its gunna get HOT!!!! So I thought I would tell you what we do for fun when we walk on the streets to from appointment to appointment to keep ourselves happy and excited. So the streets here are littered with oranges and limes that fall from the trees ( just about everyone ownes an orange and lime tree) and they just lie in the gutters. We like to kick them to eachother and play soccer. We also try to smash eachothers orange/lime or kick them perfectly so that cars will crush them as the go by. Ha its pretty silly but it makes a difference in keeping us animated. Also, we scare the crap out of the dogs haha there are so many on the streets and stuff that just sleep and we get really close to them and make a loud noise and they just take off running like crazy hahaha. But yeah, all is going well and I am hopeing for a good week and that rosi will be baptised. All is well. Have a good week and work hard!
August 17, 2011
Tudo bem,
This week has been good. So first off we almost got robbed again!!!! But don't worry it didn't happen ha but if we hadn't have followed the spirit it def would have happened again. We were walking at night and about 30 feet in front of us there were 3 dudes walking and they kept looking back at us. they turned the corner out of our view because there wa a wall ther and so we stopped. We waited for awhile and then we saw one of their heads pop around the corner waiting to see why we hadn't passed yet. s'o we turned around an just went a different route, but I know for sure they were waiting for us. I have piciked up a ton of street smarts here in Brazil. You have to be smart an just now how to avoid these situations. So this week we tried to pass by rosi's house but everytime we tried to talk to her, she just sent her daughter to the door to say that she didn't want to have visits anymore, so we were super sad and confused because she had loved us so much. But we finally got into the house and she wa laying in bed in tonws of pain Her druggie brother that had moved into her house without permission had beaten her because she told him to leave the house. She was crying and fell into depression. For a couple of days she had just wanted to kill herself because she felt alone, abandoned by her friends and family, and in so much pain. Elder Deived and I have been visiting her so much, and have helped her through everything possible. We got the members involved, and now she is getting visits and dinners from the members, and gaining a lot of friends. We planned a family home evening and invited her, and have picked her back up on her feet. She went to the doctor and is improving a ton. She said she doesn't know what would have happened if it wasnt for us and our help. She is a lot more healthier now and emotionally she is happy! I have never seen such a person so sad in there life, and I was so glad to see her smile again. I believe that she would have killed herself if it wasn't for us and the members of this gospel. She will be baptized with her daughter this saturday. From her stopping us on the street, to her gaining a testimony of the book or mormon and joseph smith, this has been an amazing experience for me to see as a missionary. But something funny happened this week is that we were teaching a less active member that is a professional painter, and he had little bottles of paint on the table that we were sitting at. I picked up one of the bottles and took off the cap and saw that there was dry paint that had sealed the top off, so I thought it would be safe to give the bottle a little squeeze and POP!!!! the cap flew off entirely and a fountain of white paint flew across the room like old faithful. the result was paint on the sealing, walls, floor, cabinet, table, my companions face, suit, and nametag. oops hahahahahahaha. That's your boy!!!! It was so funny ha we were laughing as we cleaned it up. He is actually doing a painting for me of the Curitiba Temple that I will be sending home. But yup, that was my week! Everything is going good and im coming up on my 10 month mark! Keep me updated on the good stuff thats goung on and know that I love you and im grateful for everything you have done!
Love, Matt
This week has been good. So first off we almost got robbed again!!!! But don't worry it didn't happen ha but if we hadn't have followed the spirit it def would have happened again. We were walking at night and about 30 feet in front of us there were 3 dudes walking and they kept looking back at us. they turned the corner out of our view because there wa a wall ther and so we stopped. We waited for awhile and then we saw one of their heads pop around the corner waiting to see why we hadn't passed yet. s'o we turned around an just went a different route, but I know for sure they were waiting for us. I have piciked up a ton of street smarts here in Brazil. You have to be smart an just now how to avoid these situations. So this week we tried to pass by rosi's house but everytime we tried to talk to her, she just sent her daughter to the door to say that she didn't want to have visits anymore, so we were super sad and confused because she had loved us so much. But we finally got into the house and she wa laying in bed in tonws of pain Her druggie brother that had moved into her house without permission had beaten her because she told him to leave the house. She was crying and fell into depression. For a couple of days she had just wanted to kill herself because she felt alone, abandoned by her friends and family, and in so much pain. Elder Deived and I have been visiting her so much, and have helped her through everything possible. We got the members involved, and now she is getting visits and dinners from the members, and gaining a lot of friends. We planned a family home evening and invited her, and have picked her back up on her feet. She went to the doctor and is improving a ton. She said she doesn't know what would have happened if it wasnt for us and our help. She is a lot more healthier now and emotionally she is happy! I have never seen such a person so sad in there life, and I was so glad to see her smile again. I believe that she would have killed herself if it wasn't for us and the members of this gospel. She will be baptized with her daughter this saturday. From her stopping us on the street, to her gaining a testimony of the book or mormon and joseph smith, this has been an amazing experience for me to see as a missionary. But something funny happened this week is that we were teaching a less active member that is a professional painter, and he had little bottles of paint on the table that we were sitting at. I picked up one of the bottles and took off the cap and saw that there was dry paint that had sealed the top off, so I thought it would be safe to give the bottle a little squeeze and POP!!!! the cap flew off entirely and a fountain of white paint flew across the room like old faithful. the result was paint on the sealing, walls, floor, cabinet, table, my companions face, suit, and nametag. oops hahahahahahaha. That's your boy!!!! It was so funny ha we were laughing as we cleaned it up. He is actually doing a painting for me of the Curitiba Temple that I will be sending home. But yup, that was my week! Everything is going good and im coming up on my 10 month mark! Keep me updated on the good stuff thats goung on and know that I love you and im grateful for everything you have done!
Love, Matt
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